Travel to the realm of The Seven Kingdoms, murder, sex and intrigue are a daily part of life.

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Game of Thrones 2.6: The Old Gods and the New

Joffrey Gets Slapped

I forgot how much I loved the episode “The Old Gods and the
New” until I rewatched it. This episode has everything: sex, violence, town
riots, blooming romance, and the kidnapping of dragons. The episode first
starts off with Theon capturing Winterfell. I realize that Theon has some major
father issues going on with Lord Greyjoy handing Theon’s inheritance over to
his sister, Yara; however, I still do not know why he thought he could impress
his father by capturing a castle where all of the able bodied men are off at
war and the lord is a crippled child. The way Theon storms into Bran’s room declaring
that he captured the castle, I almost expected Bran to reply, “Am I supposed to
be impressed by that.” Theon further acts like a petulant child when he
succumbs to pressure from his men to kill Ser Rodrik Cassel for spitting at
him. I will say that Game of Thrones
is not afraid to showcase the horror of certain acts of violence. Beheading has
always been a type of execution depicted in films and television that deal with
ancient or medieval times; however, often the violence takes place off screen. For
example, in the new series Vikings on
The History Channel, the viewer only sees the ax swing down and reemerge with
blood when a character is beheaded. This show, however, is on basic cable so
certain rules do govern what can be depicted onscreen. The Tudors, however, is on Showtime, another premium cable channel,
and they shy away from close up enactments of this form of execution. The
various beheadings ordered by Henry VIII are in long shot with the victims barely
visible or the action takes place off screen. I don’t know if I prefer Game of Thrones showing in vivid detail
the execution of Rodrik Cassel. It did, however, allow me to see that at times
beheading is not always a swift death but could be painful and excruciating if
the executioner is a novice and does not know how to wield a sword or an ax.

The drama at Winterfell continues when Osha played by
Natalia Tena offers her loyalty to Theon. Bran is flabbergasted by her decision
to switch loyalty but little does he know that she has a plan. In a brilliant
display of how easily a woman in this show can corrupt a man with her sexuality,
Osha seduces Theon causing him to let down his guard. I know that since this is
Game of Thrones nudity and sex are to
be expected; however, before Natalia Tena’s role as Osha on this series her most
notable character was Nymphadora Tonks in the Harry Potter franchise. It just
seemed wrong to see a Tonks stripping for Theon and have a full frontal nudity
shot. I know this is a different role, but this just illustrates that once you
are part of a popular film franchise, your character will follow you forever.
Despite feeling a bit uneasy seeing the X-rated Tonks, Osha’s plan works
allowing Theon to pass out and the two young Stark boys to escape Winterfell.

The highlight of this episode had to be the story in King’s
Landing. Tyrion sends Cersei’s daughter away to be raised. Returning to the
castle, Joffrey and the rest of the royal entourage get heckled by the crowd,
and Joffrey gets hit in the face with a cow pie. Being the pestilent child that
he is, he orders that the hurler of the poo be killed. The crowd quickly erupts
into a riot. I love this scene for it is the first time that Joffrey realizes just
because you call yourself king, does not mean you have power. If your people do
not follow and obey you, your title means nothing. The look of horror in his
eyes when he realizes that his screaming and threats will not make a mass crowd
obey him, gave me pleasure and I hoped that he would get captured by the crowd.
There was an odd seen, however, in the crowd chaos straight out of The Walking Dead. The crowd descends
upon the priest who officiates Cersei’s daughter’s voyage and literally rips
his limbs off. I almost expected Rick or Darryl to jump out from behind a
corner and start plunging arrows and knives into people’s heads. The best part
of this episode, however, had to be Peter Dinklage who portrays Tyrion
Lannister, and his scene with Joffrey when they finally make it back to the
safety of the castle. His line, “We’ve had vicious kings and we’ve had idiot
kings, but I don’t know if we’ve ever been cursed with a vicious idiot boy
king!” This line has to be the top quote from the season. Finally, there is a
Lannister who has the balls to stand up to this boy. To add a cherry on top,
Tyrion slaps Joffrey across the face. If this episode had been played in a
movie theater with hundreds of people, it is this scene that would have caused
the audience to erupt into cheers and applause.

Jon Snow and the Night’s Watch continue their journey behind
the wall. I will say, as I watched these scenes, and hear the dialogue
discussing the hatred for the Wildlings, I do not really understand why they
are such a feared enemy. They stay behind The Wall and reside in the baron
tundra where no one really wants to live. Having not read the entire book
series, I do not know if this topic is covered more thoroughly. The show,
however, does not do a good enough job describing why the Night’s Watch needs
to invade their territory and destroy these people. Also I understand that when
you join the Night’s Watch, you take the black and that is all you are allowed
to wear for the rest of your life. What I don’t understand is if you are
supposed to protect and defend an area that is covered in snow, and expected to
fight in the snow, why would you choose the most contrasting color to the
surroundings of your battle ground making hiding all but impossible? Besides
that, Jon meets Wildling woman, Ygritte played by Rose Leslie (the second actor
from Downton Abbey to join Game of Thrones. Iain Glen plays Ser
Jorah Mormant and portrayed Sir Richard Carlisle in Downton Abbey). Jon’s good heart almost gets the best of him when
he refuses to kill Ygritte. She runs away, and in capturing her, Jon loses the
rest of his brothers. Now he and Ygritte have to survive the cold terrain as
they try to find the other members of the Night’s Watch. I would say that if it
was not for the swords, White Walkers, and looming death, this could be a
romantic comedy in the making.

These are the main plot points of the episodes, but other
characters also make an appearance. Robb does have a romantic comedy moment
himself when he sheepishly tries to ask Lady Talisa Maegyr out on a “date.” It
is nice to see that even kings get nervous. Arya continues to impress Lord
Tywin and it seems like he almost has an affection for her. She has a moment of
panic when Lord Baelish comes to talk with Lord Tywin. Baelish seems to think
that Arya looks familiar. Whether he recognizes her or not remains to be seen.
Perhaps his supposed love of Catelyn will prevent him from blowing Arya’s cover
if he does figure out her true identity. Finally, Daenerys strikes out finding
someone to give her ships, but she does manage to constantly yell that she is
the mother of dragons and those who offend and violate her wishes will
eventually pay when her dragons are grown and she finds an army. Defeated, she
returns to Xaro’s home to find her men slaughtered and her dragons missing. It
seems that the dragon-napper is taking her children to the House of Shadows. We
might eventually get to see the horrors that reside in there.

Overall an entertaining episode. I could watch Joffrey being
slapped over and over again. Three more weeks until the season 3 premiere!
Check out the awesome trailer right here!